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I'm finally part of the club & short review / U-1000S

2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Ji-man 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm finally part of the club & short review / U-1000S NOW WITH PICS ;-)

I received my first Sinn U-1000S the other day after having a friend of mine pick it up directly from the Sinn factory.

I know this post might be worthless without pics, but I figured you've already seen enough pics of the watch anyway and my camera is broken :-d

In short it's a great piece. I'm a chrono-geek and although I have other watches which aren't chronographs, I always seem to lean in that direction.

What drew me to the U-1000 and Sinn in general was the technology the tegimenting process, operable pusher at depth, and the PVD. My last watch was the Doxa 40th T-graph, and had been wearing it everyday since I got it. The bezel is a scratch magnet...nothing that can't be polished out with some Cape Cod cloth, but a scratch magnet nonetheless. I also always wanted a PVD'ed watch but was always concerned that the PVD could / would get dinged up and to me dings on a PVD watch look bad compared to a non-PVD. The U1000 obviously addresses these issues and more. And although the price was high, I haven't been able to find a watch that incorporates all of the features in one watch. And to be honest as a US customer, if you had purchased it from Sinn prior to the price increase, and after you get the VAT back, it puts it in the $3700 range w/. bracelet and rubber strap. Not so bad now right...:)

As many have already mentioned, the watch is build like a tank, and I can find no flaws in the PVD or construction. The bezel is tight and the clicks are sharp, the chrono pushers are firm enough to avoid accidental starts/stops/resets, and the crown works well.

I love that it's a destro (crown & pushers on the left). With the design of this watch and the size of the crown and pushers, it would be too uncomfortable & unpractical to wear in a normal configuration. I tried it by putting it on my right hand and it digs in something bad if you bend your wrist. On the left hand it's as comfortable as any of my other 44mm watches.

Some of the things that might not be as common knowledge is that the bottom pusher starts the time and the top resets the hands. To wind the watch you turn the crown up or toward the 12 o'clock if winding with the left hand (winding with the left hand is weird) or if you flip the watch to wind with the right hand (which is what I've been doing) you wind down.

A couple of things I did notice when messing with the crown is that the first time I adjusted the time and pushed the crown down to restart the seconds hand, the watch did not restart. I pulled the crown out again and repeated the action and it started fine....scared me for a second, especially since I've had reservations about the 7750 movement because of my previous bad experience with a Panerai 162 which also uses a modified 7750. I haven't had a similar problem since....thank goodness.

The second thing I noticed different from any other watch I've ever had is that the crown, when screwing it back in, sounded like I was still winding the watch. I know I wasn't cross threading the crown since I'm not new to watches and always reverse the crown to set the treads prior to winding. But anyway, it sounded like and felt like I was still winding the watch, or to say it in another way, the sound was that of compressing a spring as the crown was tightening.

I've read some comments about firm spring tension on some of the other U series watches and think that maybe it's that. Very strange since none of the other watches I have make nothing close to that kind of sound….but there again none are Sinn's either.

Do any of you have similar issues? Is this a normal U-series thing?

The only mod I've done to the watch is to switch out the larger rubber strap clasp and put it on the bracelet. I saw from doing various WUS searches that by cutting small plastic pieces (from a Bic pen) to take out the slack of the clasp and bracelet it fits fine. Thanks John in SC!!!

I think the larger rubber strap clasp is awesome compared to what comes on the bracelet. To me it helps balance out the weight of the head...like a counter weight. I'm lucky because the bracelet fits, since there are no micro adjustments other then taking out links at that point. YMMV.

It does concern me that because there are so many spring bars (4) holding the larger clasp to the bracelet, which includes those for the lugs, that there's more possibility that if one of those bars fail I'll loose my watch. When I go diving I'll definitely have to switch to a Zulu or Rhino strap that I have.

The watch runs at +7 sec a day for now after 5 days of keeping track of that sort of thing. We'll see how it regulates as the months go by.

I'll post some pics when I get another camera...although they won't even touch some of the fantastic pics I've seen. :p:p

As a final note, if any of you are thinking about picking up your piece straight from the factory it was a painless process. The communication with Sinn was timely and my experience was that there were no issues with communicating in English. They even let me charge it on my CC via e-mail to be picked up by a different person. Of course I sent them passport and address information to verify my identity and specifics as to who would be picking up the watch to alleviate any "scam" issues. Sinn was very helpful. :-!:-!

Thanks to everyone at WUS who have helped me in the process, it's nice to be part of the club,:thanks Ji
 
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#6 ·
Andy, I never thought about that before and...well my curiosity got the better of me....so I tried it on MY watch damn you;-):-d

The answer is that it does nothing. The reset button will push in, but it doesn't engage anything until the timer is stopped.

I really wasn't sure, but tried it anyway...call it risky behavior to try it on a brand new watch.

I figured, like most things I have, that it had to be designed relatively "soldier proof". Most of my stuff has to be designed that way...cause if it can break, I'll break it :oops::-d

Thanks for the kind words guys....I promise to get a few pics up once my wallet recovers from this purchase and I can buy a new camera.

Note to self...cameras are not "soldier proof".

Ji
 
#4 ·
Very good review.

FWIW, My Sinn 103, which also uses the 7750, does seem to "wind" the watch as I am screwing in the crown also. Never considered it an issue.

Need pics though! good or just OK, all pics bring a realworld feel to the watch.

Congrats and welcome to the Sinn club.
 
#5 ·
good to hear about the personal service sinn afforded you, not many companies will let you swing by the factory for a pick up:-!

I admit to being a little intimidated by the price of this watch but agree with you that for the features it offers the price is fair since there's really none like it!
 
#7 ·
Good review!
BTW, the watch is "sinistro" ie left handed?
 
#8 ·
which to me is wrong....:-d

I'm a lefty who wears my watch on my right wrist (see pic links in sig).

So when I was looking at Sinn, the U1000 crown and pushers on that side put me off instantly.....that and the price was a bit to much for me to jump too ;-) Although I must admit, apart from it being "sinistro", it really is a stunner of a watch, and I am jealous you've got one b-)

Enjoy, and wear it well :-!
 
#10 ·
Sorry, but you have broken the rules posting your review without pics. In no way have we tired of looking at pics of these watches. Consequently you must surrender your watch to me, at which point I will post appropriate pictures. After wearing for awhile I will then send it to the others that have posted here to enjoy your watch. Sorry... but that's what it costs!;-)
 
#15 · (Edited)
Re: I'm finally part of the club & short review / U-1000S - UPDATE WITH PICS!!!!!


I forgot my video camera has a photo mode...here it is.

I apologize for my lack of skill in taking pics.

 
#16 ·
Re: I'm finally part of the club & short review / U-1000S - UPDATE WITH PICS!!!!!

Ohhhh Yeahhhhhh!! :p:p:p
 
#17 ·
Re: I'm finally part of the club & short review / U-1000S NOW WITH PICS ;-)

As a final note, if any of you are thinking about picking up your piece straight from the factory it was a painless process. The communication with Sinn was timely and my experience was that there were no issues with communicating in English. They even let me charge it on my CC via e-mail to be picked up by a different person. Of course I sent them passport and address information to verify my identity and specifics as to who would be picking up the watch to alleviate any "scam" issues. Sinn was very helpful. :-!:-!

Thanks to everyone at WUS who have helped me in the process, it's nice to be part of the club,:thanks Ji
Is there some benefit from buying direct from Sinn other than not giving money to Watchbuys???:-d
 
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